The gender factor: Is the media sensitive?

December 8, 2010

Kalpana Sharma makes a point as Hanna Ingber Win looks on at the American Center’s December 8 gender sensitization in media works

Veteran journalist and former editor Kalpana Sharma, along with Hanna Ingber Win, who covers Mumbai for Global Post and blogs for the Huffington Post, conducted a two hour interaction with aspiring journalists  from three Mumbai colleges on the need for understanding media biases towards gender-related issues. Sharma’s book “Missing Half the Story: Journalism as if Gender Matters” argues in favor of a gender perspective in journalism, a lack of which can lead to deficient and unfair reportage and commentary. The book brings out the urgency of understanding how gender biases and stereotypes operate in the Indian media. Taking the book as the starting point of discussion, the American Center initiated this dialogue on issues relating to contemporary media attitudes vis-à-vis gender. Sharma and Ingber Win drew upon their personal experiences and professional backgrounds to bring illustrate the roles of sensitivity and empathy in media coverage. Students engaged both the speakers in an hour long  Q&A session after the initial remarks.